


All My Tomorrows

by rivlee



Series: Journeys 'Verse [7]
Category: Spartacus Series (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-16
Updated: 2013-04-16
Packaged: 2017-12-08 17:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/763933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivlee/pseuds/rivlee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duro's trying to figure out how to make a ghost real again. Part of Journeys 'verse, which cross over with the HBO War Fandom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All My Tomorrows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amorekay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amorekay/gifts), [gaygreekgladiator (ama)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ama/gifts).



Duro felt like his brain was turning into goat guts, and he knew just what that meant since he’d lived off that stringy meat once or twice as pup. He had locked himself in the archives of _Byway Books_ for the past three hours trying to find some decent sources. There was a legend, from back before the worlds spilt and the Veil rose, about bringing the ghost of a human-wolf bond back to life for good. Vague references were all he had, but that was better than nothing. It meant a possibility of truth existed in the basis of the legends. There was a problem of things getting lost in translations. The legends came from Sidhe and Dragons, both who spoke in riddles and songs, and trying to make it all work in Duro’s wolf-brain was difficult. 

“You almost done?” Dagan asked. “I got to close up shop soon.”

Duro looked up from his notes. “You’re acting like you got somewhere better to be.”

Dagan rolled his eye. “I’ve got a life, pup. So do you. You’re not going to find what you need if you’re looking this hard. Just leave it.”

“None of your words make sense,” Duro said. He worked out the kinks in his neck. “I’m not used to sitting this hunched over. How the hell do humans do it?”

“By not normally spending half their life in wolf-form.” 

Duro didn’t like that someone had clearly taught Dagan sarcasm. He blamed Melitta. She was the devious type who would do that. 

“Go home, pup. You’ve got a Veil Drop coming and a ghost to prepare for,” Dagan teased.

“That’s why I’m researching the myths,” Duro complained.

“Hey, fucknuts, no matter what you find, it won’t help before this Veil Drop. Go home, get ready to pack your shit for next week, and look forward to twenty-four hours of debauchery.”

Dagan had a point even if Duro refused to admit it. He grabbed his bag and shoved his notebooks inside. Sometimes he desperately missed the tablets from the Other Side that automatically inscribed your thoughts. It made life a hell of a lot easier. Agron flat-out refused to have them in the pack and wouldn’t let Varro and Hamilcar smuggle any over the boundary; some bullshit about security issues. Duro still thought Agron had just read Harry Potter one too many times for the state of his mental health, and general concerns about mixing Other Side technology. 

The train ride back to the apartment building was quiet. One of Auctus’ pigeons, Eric the Spotted, joined him at JFK/UMass and rode with him to Quincy. It was worth the laughter and cell phone pictures to make sure Eric got back to his coop okay. Auctus had been worried, as much as a ghost could be, when he hadn’t flown home last night. Duro never really wondered what pigeons got up to in their non-coop time, but since taking up with Auctus their care had suddenly become even more important. It’d been a strange almost-year, a life-changing one, but Duro wouldn’t take any of it back.

From the scent, Nasir was the only one in the apartment. Duro wasn’t surprised to find him there; he _was_ surprised to find him with his bare feet on the coffee table eating pizza.

Duro shook his head. “I see we’ve finally destroyed all your good manners and breeding.”

“I remembered a paper towel,” Nasir said.

Duro dropped beside him and grabbed a slice from the box. 

“Where’s my shit-for-brains brother?”

“Spartacus dragged him and Mira out for a meeting with another wizard. Have you ever heard of a Castus?”

“By reputation only; he’s a wizard of some influence. He’s trying to settle here?”

Nasir nodded. “Apparently he’s not the only one. Mira said he has a handful of others with him. Agron didn’t want me to go with them.”

Duro patted Nasir’s shoulder when the air around him started to go cold. “Don’t take it personal, he’s just protecting you and the pack. He wouldn’t let you enter any meeting with an unknown wizard.”

“They’re meeting at Barca’s,” Nasir grumbled.

“Doesn’t matter, neutral territory or not, Castus is an unknown wizard of mentionable power and you’re Agron’s _mate_. You’re lucky he didn’t send you off to Melitta’s to hide in their safe room.”

“He wouldn’t.”

Duro ruffled Nasir’s hair with his free hand. “Just wait, brother. You won’t be alone; we’ll be stuck there with you.”

Nasir huffed as he scooted away from Duro’s reach. “Isn’t the point of a wolf pack to work together?”

“It is. Big Brother Wolf doesn’t like distractions though. We let him get a head start to save his ass in time. We just like to give him the illusion of control.”

Nasir took another bite of his slice as he considered Duro’s words. “So you don’t want me to fuck with the system?”

“If it gets to be too much, you let us know. Or tell Agron yourself, gods know he’s more likely to listen to you. He doesn’t mean to be a suffocating jackass, it just sort of comes with the wolf thing.”

“As do bad manners and foul language,” Auctus said as he emerged from the floor.

Nasir jumped, still quite unused to that trick. It took time, even for those who grew up on the Other Side, to get used to life with ghosts. Even Duro had moments where it got to be too much; when he could look at Auctus and know he was listening to the voices of the dead and gone. 

Auctus studied Duro. “You’re covered in dust.”

Duro looked at his shirt, and sure enough, there were streaks of grey dust still clinging to the white fabric. “Went through some of Hamilcar’s archives today. Dagan could’ve told me I was covered. Now people are going to think I’m a half-sane dust covered man who talks to pigeons.”

“Oh, Eric finally came home?” Auctus asked. 

Duro tried not to be jealous over a pigeon; he wasn’t winning that battle. He sniffed as he picked up another slice. “Last time I saw his spotted highness he was flying up to the roof.”

“I’ll go check on him,” Auctus said before he disappeared.

Duro tried not to think about the roof, which meant heights, which meant possible falling to death. It was a good thing the only people who spent significant amounts of times up there were Auctus and the pigeons. He uncomfortably swallowed his food down.

“You look ready to pass out,” Nasir said. He patted Duro’s arm. “Heights?”

“Heights,” Duro agreed. He finished his slice and wiped his hands on an extra paper towel. “My head is killing me. I think I’m going to grab a wolf-nap.”

“Dream well,” Nasir called after him. 

*******************************

“It was no fucking wizard,” Agron bellowed. 

Duro rolled out of his bed with an angry yelp and howled in concern at his brother’s distress. 

It was Nasir who answered the call, sending the reassuring response cry to all the wolves. Duro shook off the cobwebs on his brain and tried to remember just what form he was in; he was surprised to see four wolf paws instead of two human feet. He hadn’t switched forms in his sleep for a long ass time. Fucking heights; just the thought of them made him regress. Auctus’ form was flickering in the corner, a sad downturn to his lips. Duro wanted to ask him what was wrong, but it came out as a mournful cry. Fuck. He cleared his mind and easily shifted back to his human body. 

“I hate that I can’t comfort you with touch or smell when terrors take hold of your mind in sleep,” Auctus said. “You should have someone else; one more suited to your life and needs.”

“I already have the best,” Duro said. He pulled on a pair of jeans before he walked over to the spot where Auctus flickered, save the one shining spot of Duro’s mark. He kissed that one spot, forever stuck in corporeal form, and smiled as Auctus shimmered into his full image. “We will find a way to restore you.”

“At what cost?” Auctus asked. “When a wolf dies, they don’t become ghosts.”

Duro laughed. “Auctus, look at us; look at how we started. Normal protocol is not at work here.” He rested his fingers on that one spot, forever warm, forever full of life thanks to their connection, and smiled. “I was such a brat to you on that battlefield. You just wanted to get me back here; to keep me safe, and _I_ got you killed.”

“No,” Auctus said. His voice sound pained as he hands hovered around Duro’s face. “I knew what was coming, Duro, _I_ knew the cost of my own choice. I’d seen it, dreamt of it, for years. It wasn’t truly clear until I was stuck in those fucking trenches over in Europe fighting a war for this new adopted home, but part of me always knew. I’ve been speaking with the Spirits since I was a child, Duro. Even if I had not cared as I did, or seen that final dream before my death, I would’ve still made the same choice. You are one of the few people who always brings genuine joy to those around you.”

Duro wanted nothing more in that moment to touch Auctus; to breathe in the comforting scent that rose when he took form, to feel the heart beating beneath flesh. “Fuck,” he muttered. He closed his eyes and tried not to think about how much the lack of it all hurt them both. They only had another week for their one day, but then it’d be months again. “We need to figure this out.”

“We will, if you want to,” Auctus said. 

“I do,” Duro promised. “Your Reaper friend, the one that sent the letter with Nasir, did he have anything of aid?”

“Just the name of a new Realm Jumper. The kid’s from this side, so that’s different, but I don’t know of what help he’ll be.”

“We’ll call him anyway,” Duro said. He kissed the mark again before he went to the door. “Let’s find out what Agron’s yelling about this time.”

“Oh, he probably just found out Castus is of the Dragons and very much not a wizard,” Auctus said as if it was that simple.

“You let my brother go into a meeting with a Dragon?” Duro asked as he turned around. 

Auctus appeared at his side. “Castus favors the water more than the woods,” he said. “Your brother was never in any danger.”

“Dragon,” Duro said.

“Dragon who most people know as a wizard,” Auctus said. “Besides which, he’s a Sea Serpent. He doesn’t come with fire damage, just wind storms.”

“Just wind storms,” Duro muttered. “To think, I could’ve been nothing but a simple cub patrolling the lands outside Chauci. Instead I live in an apartment building with three other wolves, three wizards, two ghosts, a fire demon, and a puck. I somehow managed to find my mate in the boundaries between the world of the Living and the Dead, who has more concern for a pigeon’s well-being than my own.”

“Oh fuck you,” Auctus said. “If you think I wasn’t tapping into your thoughts on that whole ride home than you don’t know much about how this bond…” he trailed off. “Oh shit.”

“I’m sorry, you were doing what?” Duro asked. “Terrified to let me research on my own?”

Auctus started to flicker and Duro bit down on the mark again, forcing him back. 

“Dagan’s an impressive man,” Auctus said. “You’ve had a _connection_ in the past. I don’t doubt our bond, or our love, or our strength, but you _must_ get lonely for touch sometimes, and that’s something I can’t give you, save four times a year.”

Duro wasn’t good with words; a curse of being a wolf. He knew how to reassure with gesture, but not with words, those little things that often felt like a lie on his tongue, even with good intention. He didn’t like their taste, or the worry that came with considering them.

He thought back to something he’d read that night, of the power in a wolf’s force of will, and the connection and depth of a bond. It would drain Duro, probably completely, and Auctus would yell at him, as would Agron, as would Mira, once he was done. He didn’t fucking care though.

“I’ve got to try,” Duro murmured.

“What?” Auctus asked.

Duro pressed his fingers over the mark with intent and locked eyes with Auctus. He willed it, with every part of the wolf and man inside him, to make the wish become a truth. It would only last for five minutes, at most, if they were luckily. Duro would be completely exhausted by it all, but he could feel it, in the heat that radiated out from the mark and started to make projected image into hardened form. 

“How?” Auctus hissed as he struggled to remember to breathe.

“More things on heaven and earth,” Duro quoted through his gritted teeth.

“I’ve told you not to abuse Shakespeare,” Auctus teased. His eyes were wide, but so beautiful as actual light flickered in actual irises. The electricity in the room started to flicker, a consequence Duro didn’t really consider, but it was too late now. 

He could feel his own blood rushing, the sweat started to bead on his brow, and the drain of his power as he gave it to Auctus. He immediately took those lips when they became flesh, and pushed the last dregs of his will into it as hands grasped at his hair and held him close. 

“Perfect,” Duro said, even as the world started to dim.

“You cannot do that again, you stupid fuck,” Auctus said. His nose and lips traces the paths of Duro’s skin, tongue occasionally peeking out to capture taste for memory. “You’re about to drop.”

“Worth it,” Duro said. He rested his head on the broad width of Auctus’ shoulder, and breathed in his scent, wrapped himself in it. “Look what we can do together.”

“It will fade,” Auctus warned. “I can already feel it.” He tightened his hold on Duro as he pushed them towards the bed. “You stupid, stupid, stupid wolf.” Lips hovered over Duro’s ear and whispered low. “I love you too fucking much.”

“No such thing,” Duro said as he finally gave over to the call of sleep.


End file.
